Andy Griffith Dead At 86

The iconic TV star passed away July 3 — so sad.

Andy Griffith, best known for starring on the classic TV sitcom, The Andy Griffith Show, died July 3 in his North Carolina home.

Born in 1926, Andy began his acting career in 1957 and appeared on a number of hit TV shows, including Matlock, Fantasy Island, and Hawaii Five-O.

What many people don’t know, however, is that Andy was also an accomplished Southern-gospel singer. In fact, he nabbed a Grammy in 1997 for his album I Love To Tell The Story: 25 Timeless Hymns.

HollywoodLife.com spoke with a former associate of Andy’s at the William Morris Endeavor, who shared with us a beautiful aspect of Andy’s life that fans didn’t get to see:

“Andy was madly in love with his wife; they did almost everything together,” we’re told. “Whenever we would send him a script to read, he would always ask us to send a copy for her. The two of them would sit side by side and read the script together. He never wanted to stop working, even though he had plenty of money to retire. He loved performing and couldn’t imagine not doing it.”

“He also got more fan mail than any other celebrity at the agency,” the insider adds. “Unlike other actors, he always wanted us to send it to him. He’d actually respond to the letter and send signed photos. Strangely, a lot of prisoners would write to him, and he would write back to them.”

We also spoke with Andy’s cousin, Gail Griffith, who had this to say:

“My dad and Andy were cousins, and he talked like him and looked like him,” Gail told us. “We watched [The Andy Griffith Show] until my dad passed away in 1981, and watching Andy brought my dad back into my life. I was 21. It made me feel like my dad was still here. I could always look up to [Andy] because he reminded me of my dad — his mannerisms. It’s just really sad and sad to hear about it.”

We all enjoyed Andy Griffith’s work in some form or another, so drop a comment with your best Andy memories below.